April 5, 2018: India’s Gururaja claimed silver in the Men’s 56kg weightlifting event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games handing India its first medal at the quadrennial event on the opening day.

After lifting his best weight of 111kg in the snatch, the 28-year-old added 138kg in his third attempt in the clean and jerk to end with a total lift of 249kg - achieving his personal best.

Malaysia’s Muhammad Izhar Ahmad won gold with a total lift of 261kg - A Commonwealth Games record - while bronze went to Sri Lanka’s Chaturanga Lakmal (248kg).

In 2017, Gururaja had claimed a Commonwealth Championships bronze in Australia. Gururaja, who began weightlifting in 2010, had won gold in the Commonwealth senior weightlifting championship, lifting a personal best of 249kg (108 141) in Penang in 2016. Earlier that year, the 28-year-old won gold at the South Asian Games.

Son of a pick-up-truck driver, Gururaja hails from Kundapura in coastal Karnataka and started out as a wrestler before switching to Powerlifting and then weightlifting.